This invention relates to the manufacture of cigarette rods and more particularly relates to an apparatus and method for improving the firmness of a cigarette during the manufacture thereof.
In the manufacture of cigarette rods, complex machinery is necessary as the manufacturing occurs at high speed. In the filling or wrapping step, tobacco is fed into a wrapper at relatively high speeds forming a cigarette rod which is subsequently cut, also at high speed, into preselected sizes. In this processing or manufacturing stage, there is generally a tendency for the tobacco strands to become axially aligned within the cigarette rod. Because of this alignment, low void volumes occur and the firmness of the cigarette product is relatively low. Also, the final product, the tobacco, not being perfectly aligned, has an uneven density or fill value of tobacco within the cigarettes and voids are found therein.